New books
I am reading two books right now. The first is:
"From Publishers Weekly
Bridget Fitzmaurice, the narrator of
Quindlen's engrossing fifth novel, works for a women's shelter in the
Bronx; her older sister, Meghan, cohost of the popular morning show Rise and Shine,
is the most famous woman on television. Bridget acts as a second mother
to the busy Meghan's college student son, Leo; Meghan barely tolerates
Bridget's significant other, a gritty veteran police detective named
Irving Lefkowitz. After 9/11 (which happens off-camera) and the
subsequent walking out of Meghan's beleaguered husband, Evan, Meghan
calls a major politician a "fucking asshole" before her microphone gets
turned off for a commercial, and Megan and Bridget's lives change
forever. As Bridget struggles to mend familial fences and deal with
reconfigurations in their lives wrought by Meghan's single phrase,
Quindlen has her lob plenty of pungent observations about both life in
class-stratified New York City and about family dynamics. The situation
is ripe with comic potential, which Bridget deadpans her way through,
and Quindlen goes along with Bridget's cool reserve and judgmentalism.
The plot is very imbalanced: a couple of events early, then virtually
nothing until a series of major revelations in the last 50 or so pages.
The prose is top-notch; readers may be more interested in Quindlen's
insights than in the lives of her two main characters. (Aug. 28)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This is a good book, well written, and a nice light theme. I have read one of her other books,
The other book I am reading has been one of those books that you want to read slowly because you want to savor it. I am only a quarter of a way into this book, and have enjoyed it a great deal.
Comments
It's nice to read something hopeful to offset the bad news all around us.